Summer
by Kris Chambers
Summary: I really need a better way to waste time. Um, well Ned and Moze think over what happened at the dance and on the bus. I've decided to take this in a more dramatic route than funny. Enjoy.
1. Prologue

AN – I couldn't post my prologue before, so here it is.

Disclaimer – I do not own NDSSG. Yes life does suck.

It was the last dance of the school year for students of James Polk, and everyone was looking for a date. Ned was desperate for a last chance with Suzie before the year ended and Cookie wanted to ask the girl of his dreams. Moze just wanted to hang out with her friends and have a good time. That is until Ned came up with brilliant idea for a double date. Before she could protest, Moze found herself setup on double date, Ned with Suzie and her with Jock. Oh well, it's just a dance right? Cookie had managed to lock himself into another tight corner. He asked his dream girl, well lets just call her Jill, but she said no. The next person to ask him was Lisa Zimo, and seeing as how Jill had said no, Cookie couldn't see why not. So he said yes to Lisa, but not ten minutes later, Jill came back, saying she'd thought about it and changed her mind, she would go with Cookie. And so Cookie had yet again backed himself into a funny predicament. The rest of the day however, went by without much interest. Everyone was excited for the dance. And to save you from reading long boring hours about their science class, we'll just skip a head to Ned and Moze preparing for the dance.

It was six o'clock, one hour to the dance, and two teen neighbors were getting nervous. Jennifer Mosley, a tall girl for her thirteen years, was frantically pulling clothes out of her closet and throwing them on the ground.

"No I can't wear this! No I wore this to the last dance! No, Ned can't see me in this!" she screamed. Suddenly she stopped. Had she just said that? About Ned? No, surely she had meant Jock, she was just used to saying Ned. But something kept telling her otherwise. Brushing the thought aside, she glanced at the clock. 6:45! In five minutes she'd be meeting Ned! There was no way she'd be ready!

"I have to find _something_!" she cried. She hauled another dress out of her closet. It was a red strapless dress. She remembered when she bought it with Suzie. She loved this dress, but she didn't want to wear it to the dance. Still, it was the only good dress she had. So she put it on over her curled hair and ten minutes later she was walking down to Ned's car. But she didn't know what Ned had been doing for the last hour.

Ned Bigby lied on his bed staring at his ceiling. It was only an hour until the dance, but he still lied there, motionless, trying to see how he really felt. He thought he would have been much more excited to finally be going on a date with Suzie, but for some reason all he could feel was jealousy. A jealousy he had only felt a few times before, but could never explain. The only time he had felt jealousy like this was when he saw Moze with another guy.

"Don't be an idiot!" he thought, "You like Suzie, remember? Suzie! You only feel this way because you want to look out for Moze. She's practically your sister!" But even that didn't convince him. For awhile he had wondered if he did just think of Moze as his sister, or if there was something more. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. 6:50. He'd have to go in ten minutes. He slowly got up and walked over to his closet. He pulled out his favorite

pants and a blue blouse. He gelled back his hair and walked down to his car. He saw Moze in the back seat, looking out the window and his heart almost stopped. In his opinion, she was drop dead gorgeous.

"You're with Suzie" he mumbled to himself. This was going to be a long night.

When they arrived at the dance, the front of the school was crowded the kids looking for their dates. Ned immediately spotted Jock and Suzie standing in the corner, talking. But there was a huge problem, Moze realized too; Suzie and Moze were wearing the exact same outfit.

"…Nice outfit Jennifer" Suzie said hesitantly, looking down at their outfits.

"Wow, you both look… exactly the same" Jock said.

"Why don't we get something to eat?" Ned said, finally breaking the ice. Everyone agreed and so they were off. While Cookie had his own problem. Trying to entertain both girls was a hard task for him, but he managed… for awhile.

After a half an hour of eating, Ned started to feel a little sick. Jock had gone to get more food, and Ned had gone to use the washroom. Moze and Suzie then got to girl talk.

"You know Ned still wants to kiss you right?" Moze said half jokingly, hiding the jealousy in her voice.

"Yeah, but tonight, I might let him. I actually kind of want him to" Suzie said. Moze spit her drink across the table. She couldn't tell that Suzie was gauging her reaction. Just then the boys returned, leaving no room for talk. Ned looked really nervous. They got up to go dancing because the girls were sick of sitting around, and Ned fell back a little. As instinct, so did Moze.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Uh… you know what happens when I eat spicy foods?" he said nervously.

"Yeah… you didn't! Ned, you know you get the runs every time you eat spicy food! Why do you insist on putting yourself through this every time? Plus Suzie wants you to kiss her" she added, looking away.

"She does?! Oh man, this is terrible! My one shot with Suzie might be gone" he sighed. Those acting classes were paying off big time.

"Don't worry, I'll get the nurse, you go to the boys bathroom" she said before hurrying away.

Cookie wasn't having much luck either. Both his dates wanted to dance so he waited for awhile, danced to a meringue song. But after too long, both girls left him, and he was even sadder than when he was rejected. He did however manage to dance with Lisa again later. (AN sorry I don't have much coverage on Cookie, but the plot's based on Ned and Moze)

On the other side of the school however, things weren't going as smoothly. Ned was still in the bathroom, clutching his stomach and moaning. That is until the nurse came. She gave him some pink goop to drink, and in under five minutes, he was back on the dance floor, looking for Suzie. He saw one girl that looked like Moze dancing with Jock. So the girl at the punch table had to be Suzie. Gathering up all his courage, Ned walked over to the punch table, grabbed the girl closed his eyes and pulled her towards him. They were locked at the lips for what seemed like eternity, until Ned opened his eyes. He pulled away with a start.

"NO!" he yelled. Moze looked like someone had slapped her. Hard. Ned turned and ran to the boys bathroom. Moze walked away, tears in her eyes, but she refused to let anyone see. She locked herself in the girls washroom and wouldn't come out until it was time to leave. That night she was up thinking about the next day. Wondering what was going to happen.


	2. The Next Day

The next day was hell for Ned and Moze. While everyone was happy, singing and dancing, Ned was hiding from Moze and Suzie. Suzie would kill him if she found out about the kiss and he may have ruined his friendship with Moze forever. But he couldn't dwell on that now, he had to keep Moze and Suzie from talking, and they were both coming his way! Without thinking, he sent Cookie to distract Moze while he talked to Suzie.

"Hey Suzie!" he said, trying to be nonchalant.

"Hi Ned, I had a great time last night, considering what happened…" she said.

"You know!!!" Ned panicked. How could she know?

"Yeah Jennifer told me. It's ok, everyone gets sick sometimes, you just have to make it up to me, we'll go on another date soon. I'll see you later, ok?" she said and walked off. Ned breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he was dead for sure. Now all he had to do was find Moze.

Moze had a different problem. She didn't know how she felt. She felt sorry that Jock had seen them, she was starting to like him again, or so she'd thought. But she knew she'd have to tell Suzie. Suzie was her best friend, she'd never trust her if she didn't. But how? And what about Ned? How did he feel about everything that had happened? Did he care that he had kissed her instead of Suzie? It was too much, she needed advice. She went back to her locker to get some books, but Mr. Chopsaw was there, taking pictures of it. She decided to ask him for advice, after all, he was her favorite teacher.

"Mr. Chopsaw, I need your advice. Say a piece of balsa wood and a piece of maple are together but the balsa accidentally kisses the oak. Should the oak and the balsa tell the maple?" she asked, thinking as she did how ridiculous it sounded.

"Well that's a problem you see, because trees can't talk" he said with a smile.

"I kissed Ned when he was dating Suzie!" she said impatiently.

"Oh, well the oak should tell the maple, or else the maple wont trust the oak and they would never be friends again" he said metaphorically.

"You're right! Thanks Mr. Chopsaw!" Moze said as she hurried off.

"You're welcome, though I have no idea what I just said" he replied.

But Ned had needed advice too, so he went to none other than Gordy.

"I need help. Should I tell Suzie what happened?" Ned asked, a little nervous.

"Yeah, if she finds out from somebody else, you're dead in the water. But if you tell her, it lowers the anger rate and you two will be happy couple before long" he said, using dolls for visual effects.

"Ok, you're right, I'll tell her. Thanks Gordy' Ned said before hurrying off to find Suzie.

They both saw her at the same time, walking down the hall towards her next class. Then they saw each other.

"I want to tell her!" they both screamed.

"No I want to!" in perfect sync.

"SUZIE!" they cried before covering each others mouths. Walking with their hands still covering each others mouths, they started mumbling about the kiss in incomprehensible gibberish.

"Is this about you two kissing at the dance last night?" she asked bemused.

"You know!?!" they both yelled.

"Yeah, Jock told me last night. I was just trying to see if you'd make a trustworthy friend and you'd make a trustworthy boyfriend. You passed" she said nonchalantly as she walked away. "See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder.

"I can't believe we let this ruin our last day" Ned said as they boarded the bus.

"Yeah me neither. I mean, who'd've thought that a little kiss would mean so much?" Moze said.

"Yeah I didn't feel a thing; it was like kissing a wall!" Ned exclaimed.

"Yeah, kissing a wall that couldn't kiss!" Moze laughed.

"We could do it again and it would mean nothing" Ned said. Suddenly the two leaned forward and kissed again.

"See, nothing…" Moze said uncertainly. Cookie who had seen nothing, sat between them and talked about how great grade eight would be. That is, if they survived the summer.


	3. Thinking

**Disclaimer – I do not own NDSSG or any of the characters. Yes. Life sucks.**

**Summer**

**Moze POV**

Moze lay on her bed, thinking about what had happened over the last few days. She was on her back, staring at the ceiling. Well actually at a poster Ned had put up when he'd helped her redecorate her room. It had a picture of the two of them from the year before. They had been watching a movie when she fell asleep with her head on Ned's lap. He'd stopped paying attention to the movie and had edged down so he was almost lying down besides her. He'd started to play with her hair. Then her mom had snuck in with a camera while he was staring at her and took a picture.

Moze smiled. Ned had given her that nickname when they were little. Without getting up, she tilted her head and looked at the rest of her and Ned's combined efforts. The walls were baby blue and covered in more poster-sized pictures. There were pictures of her and Ned, and her and Suzie. There were pictures of Cookie and Ned, and then the three of them. There was even a picture of the weasel Gordy was always trying to catch. Then she thought of what happened the other day. The smile was quickly wiped off her face. Had she really kissed Ned? The answer was yes, even though it was a mistake. But what had happened on the bus? Did she really like Ned Bigby? And more importantly, how did he feel about her?

**Ned POV**

Ned was at hiss desk, looking at pictures of Moze. The one he'd been staring at for the past half hour was his favourite. They were lying on a couch. Moze was asleep and Ned was stroking her hair. He remembered when, as a surprise, he'd pinned a poster-sized replica on her ceiling. No matter how many times she threatened to take it down, he knew it was still there. His stomach tingled at the thought of the past few days. He'd kissed Moze, even after he'd started going out with Suzie. And yet, he didn't know how he felt about it. The first had been completely accidental. He thought he was kissing Suzie. But on the bus... He shook his head. They needed to talk. Face to face.

**  
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	4. A talk on the balcony

**AN – Sorry it's been awhile, but I've been having trouble getting on the computer long enough to write this. Last chapter was too short, I'll try to make this one longer. I'm only finishing this because my friend is making me, so if I don't get enough reviews, I think I'll pull the plug on this thing. We'll see. Now, on with the show.**

Disclaimer – I don't own NDSSG or the characters, which is probably a good thing. Most likely I'd have them battle to the death anyway.

Summer

**Moze POV**

Moze picked up her cell phone off her nightstand. She needed to call Ned. Fix this whole thing. But what would she say? She stared at the phone for a minute. It was practically the only girly thing she'd ever wanted. It was a pink razor, not hot pink mind you, but a light rosy shade. It was a camera phone, but there was almost no memory left, from all the pictures she'd took. She flipped it open a few times, just to snap it shut the second she saw her display screen. It was a picture, a harmless picture. Suzie was taking a picture of the two of them standing next to each other, just as friends normally would, when out of nowhere Cookie zoomed by in the mop bucket slingshot, causing Moze to lose her balance. She fell right in to Ned's open arms. Neither of them had noticed at the time, but the second they touched, a bright smile lit both faces. The picture looked so planned, so... so.._perfect. _Like it was meant to be. Moze looked around her room again. Oh my god... she whispered to herself. Looking at it now, someone who didn't know them would think they were going out. All their pictures seemed so, couple-ish. Moze looked back at her phone.

"It doesn't matter what you say, it's just Ned. You just have to straiten this out" she said with determination. She flipped open her phone, and opened her address book, it was the very first one. But just that second, All the Small Things by Blink 182 started to belt from it, and it started vibrating. Moze dropped it on her bed, startled.

"How does he do that?" she asked no one in particular. She knew it was him because that was their song. Well one of many, but that was the song they'd primarily come to associate with each other. She gingerly picked up the phone.

"Get a hold of yourself! It's just Ned. Same old Ned, always joking around, perfect smile, always in way over his head, cute messy hair... Wait a minute! It's NED! Pick up the phone!" She started yelling at herself. In a swift movement, she flipped open the phone and pressed talk.

"Hey Ned, we need to talk" she said swiftly, getting to business.

"Um.. yeah, that's why I called. About that kiss on the bus... it was all just a misunderstanding right?" he asked. Moze was flattened. So he didn't care. She was just his tomboy of a sister. Tears started to well in her eyes. Knowing she was alone, she didn't even try to stop them.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what happened. It just sorta did. So, what do we do now? Forget about it?" she managed to choke out, sounding halfway normal. But Ned had known her too long, he knew something was up.

"Moze, are you alright?" he asked, genuine concern leaked out into his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she said. But by now, it was too late. It wasn't very often Ned saw or heard her cry, but when he did, it made his heart break. He could tell in an instant if something was wrong, and wanted nothing more than to see her smile again. He was her shoulder to cry on, or he wanted to be.

**Ned POV**

Ned knew full well, he couldn't just sneak into Moze's bedroom and talk with her. He had to at least call her first. He thought about what to say. Nothing, absolutely nothing came to him. He'd just strike up normal conversation, invite himself over and talk then. He picked up his phone off his desk. He looked at his battered old cell, he would be getting a new one in a year, maybe sooner. The most remarkable thing about it, if you'd never seen it before, was how only certain numbers were worn out. You could hardly tell the numbers apart, but Ned didn't even look at the phone as he pressed on the worn buttons. They just happened to be the numbers in Moze's cell and home phone, which were only one digit off. 944 – 2074. He let it ring. Maybe she won't pick up, he thought. Maybe she's too weirded out by this whole thing to even look at me right. As these thoughts crossed his mind, Ned started climbing out his window, onto the tree outside. The tree was huge! There was a tree house on one side, and if you knew how, you could climb from Ned's window to Moze's in a few minutes. Ned started to climb. He shimmied across a branch and almost lost his balance when Moze picked up. He grabbed a branch with one arm and held the phone to his ear with the other. He slowly started to walk across the branch.

"Hey Ned, we need to talk" she said swiftly, getting to business.

"Um.. yeah, that's why I called. About that kiss on the bus... it was all just a misunderstanding right?" he asked. He bit his lip, how did she feel about all this?

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what happened. It just sorta did. So, what do we do now? Forget about it?" she managed to choke out, sounding halfway normal. But Ned had known her too long, he knew something was up.

"Moze, are you alright?" he asked, genuine concern leaked out into his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she said. But Ned knew better. By now he was on the balcony outside her room. The doors were closed, and he didn't want her to see him yet, so her sat on the ledge.

"Moze you're not fine. You're crying aren't you?" as he said it he peered through the curtains. Sure enough, she was curled up on her bed, tears spilling out onto her cheeks. Ned's heart broke into a million pieces to see her like that. He swiftly picked a rose from the basket near his feet. Brushing himself off he stood.

"You're going to have to stop crying now, I've brought you something" he said.

"What do you mean?" she questioned. She sat up on her bed and wiped her eyes none the less.

"I'll see you soon" he said, leaving no hint of what he was up to. He turned off his phone, brushed his hair out of his eyes, put the rose behind his back and stood in the shadows of the balcony. He knew Moze was going to come out here any second.

**Normal**

Moze silently let the tears slide down her cheeks.

"Moze you're not fine. You're crying aren't you?" Ned asked. He was right, but she'd never let him know.

"You're going to have to stop crying now, I've brought you something" he said.

"What do you mean?" she questioned. She sat up on her bed and wiped her eyes none the less.

"I'll see you soon" he said, leaving no hint of what he was up to. Moze was still crying, if only a little. She needed air. She decided to go out onto her balcony. She slowly walked towards the door leading outside. She opened it and walked up to the edge. She leaned down and silently, two tears slid down her cheeks and all the way until the hit the ground. She heard a noise, a rustle from behind her. She turned around slowly, not sure of what to expect.

Ned was standing behind her, hair perfect, in his leather jacket, holding one hand behind his back. He looked up when he sensed she'd turned around.

"Look, I don't know how you feel about what happened, but right now you need to know..." he stammered "I can't keep living a lie. The moment I first kissed you I knew, I love you. I want to be with you every moment of my life. It kills me to see you cry, I'd do anything to see you smile. I love you Jennifer Mosely, with every part of my soul. If you don't want me, that's ok, I just needed to tell you this. And give you... this" With that he walked towards her. He pulled a rose from behind his back. With one luscious movement, he slid his hand to the small of her back as he ran the other one through her hair. She hugged him close to her as they kissed. They stood like this fro what felt like forever, but then Ned pulled away. He walked to the other side of the balcony, about to climb the tree.

"Wait" she cried "Ned, I love you! I always have, and I know now that I always will!" She walked towards him, and pulled him into a hug. Another tear slid down her cheek. "Please Ned, never let me go!"

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AN – Ok, well I think that turned out well, how about you? I have some ideas of how I could continue this, but I need feedback. Remember read and review, and I'll love you forever.


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